Boston vs. St. Louis: Sports rivalry history

The Red Sox and the Cardinals will face off in the 2013 World Series, and it will be the fourth time in history the two teams will compete for baseball’s championship.

But the sports rivalry between Boston and St. Louis goes way back and stretches across many sports. With that in mind, here’s a look at the postseason and championship history between Boston and St. Louis.
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Globe Photo

1946 World Series

The 1946 season saw Ted Williams return to the Red Sox after serving in Navy and Marines during World War II. Williams won the MVP award that year after batting .342 with 38 home runs and 123 RBIs.

The Red Sox went 104-50 and won the American League pennant for the first time since 1918, finishing 12 games ahead of the second-place Detroit Tigers. The Cardinals, on the other hand, went 98-58 that year, winning the NL pennant by just two games over the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In the World Series, the Red Sox took Game one with a 3-2 victory in Sportsman’s Park, coming back to tie the game in the top of the ninth and winning after a 10th inning home run by Rudy York. Game 2 saw the Cardinals tie the series with a 3-0 shutout. When the series shifted to Fenway Park for Game 3, the Sox had a shutout of their own, beating St. Louis 4-0 to take a 2-1 series lead. The Cardinals stormed back in Game 4, however, clobbering the Red Sox 12-3. Game 5 saw the Sox come within one game from the World Series title after a 6-3 win.

After returning to St. Louis, the Cardinals tied the series 3-3 with a Game 6 win that forced a winner-take-all Game 7. In Game 7, the Red Sox rallied from down two runs in the eighth to tie the game 3-3, but the now-famous “mad dash” of Enos Slaughter in the bottom of the eighth, along with a supposed hesitation by shortstop Johnny Pesky, gave the Cardinals a 4-3 lead and they shut down the Sox in the ninth to win the World Series.
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Bob Dean/Boston Globe

1957 NBA Finals: Celtics vs. Hawks

The St. Louis Hawks had a relatively brief but successful run in the 18 years they spent in St. Louis. In 1956-57, the team made what would turn out to be one of the biggest trades in NBA history, as they acquired Cliff Hagan and Ed Macauley from the Celtics. The price? Second overall draft pick and future Celtics legend Bill Russell (seen here against the Philadelphia Warriors).

That season, the Hawks finished just 34-38, but won the Western Division on a tiebreaker, sending them to the Western Conference Finals, in which they swept the Minneapolis Lakers in three games.

In the NBA Finals, the Hawks took Game 1 in Boston, and held a 2-1 advantage going into Game 4. The Celtics would win the next two to go up 3-2, but the Hawks won Game 6 to force a Game 7 in Boston.

The game would be a tight match, but the Celtics came away with a two point win in double overtime to win their first NBA Championship.
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AP Photo

1958 NBA Finals: Celtics vs. Hawks

After their NBA Finals appearance the previous season, the Hawks won the Western Division easily in 1957-58. The Hawks went on to beat the Detroit Pistons in five games to win the Western Conference title and set up an NBA Finals rematch with the Celtics.

In the Finals, the Hawks won Game 1 again and came home to take Game 3 and have a 2-1 lead in the series, a game in which the Celtics lost Bill Russell to an ankle injury. The Celtics took Game 4 to send the series back to Boston tied, but the Hawks won Game 5 to come home and have a chance to win the Finals. The Hawks’ Bob Pettit scored 50 points in a 110-109 win in Game 6, giving Slater Martin (pictured) and the Hawks their first NBA title.
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Jack Sheehan/Globe Photo

1960 NBA Finals: Celtics vs. Hawks

The Hawks rebounded from a tough 1958-59 season to win their fourth straight Western Division title in 1959-60 with a record of 46-29. St. Louis played a tough seven-game series in the Western Conference Finals against the Minneapolis Lakers, but advanced with a 21 point win in Game 7 for their fourth trip to the NBA Finals in three seasons.

Facing the Celtics again, the Hawks battled just as hard as in the previous two series against Boston, alternating wins with the Celtics and forcing a Game 7. The Celtics, behind Bill Russell’s 18 second quarter points, would go on to handily beat the Hawks for the NBA Championship.
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AP Photo

1961 NBA Finals: Celtics vs. Hawks

Coming off another trip to the NBA Finals, the Hawks won the Western Division by 15 games with a record of 51-28. Facing the now-Los Angeles Lakers in the Conference Finals, the Hawks fell behind 3-2 and needed a Game 6 win in Los Angeles to force a Game 7 at home. They were able to capture their fourth Western Conference title in five years with a two-point Game 7 win.

This NBA Finals against the Celtics would not be as close as the previous ones, as Bob Cousy (pictured here) and the Celtics won all but Game 3 en route to an easy 4-1 series win over St. Louis for their fourth NBA title in five seasons. This would be the last time the Hawks would reach the Finals, spending seven more seasons in St. Louis before moving to Atlanta in 1968, where the franchise still exists today.
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RAY LUSSIER

1970 Stanley Cup Final: Bruins vs. Blues

After the 1967 NHL expansion, the “expansion six” teams were placed in a division that automatically meant one of them would reach the Stanley Cup Final each season. In 1970, the St. Louis Blues would reach their third straight Final, going on to face the “Big, Bad” Boston Bruins. The Bruins had not reached the Final since 1958, but went 40-17-19 and finished second in the East division.

They went on to beat the New York Rangers 4-2 and swept the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 to reach the Final. The Blues, on the other hand, went 37-27-12 to win the West division, defeating the Minnesota North Stars 4-2 and Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 to win the West.

In the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final, it was clear who the better team was, with the Bruins winning Games 1-3 by scores of 6-1, 6-2, and 4-1. Game 4 in Boston was the only tightly contested match, with the teams taking a 3-3 tie into overtime.

Bobby Orr went on to score the most famous goal in Bruins history, beating St. Louis goaltender Glenn Hall just as he was tripped by defenseman Noel Picard, raising his arms as he fell and appearing to “fly” through the air.

Orr was award the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after scoring nine goals and 11 assists in the playoffs. Phil Esposito led the team in scoring with 13 goals and 14 assists.
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AP

1967 World Series: Red Sox vs. Cardinals

The Red Sox 1967 season is remembered as the “Impossible Dream.” The Red Sox had not had a winning record in almost 10 years, and were just two years removed from losing 100 games. Needless to say, heading into 1967, not much was expected from the Red Sox. But Boston proved everyone wrong in 1967, winning games in the most electric fashion, garnering the nickname “The Cardiac Kids.”

Even a devastating injury to local hero Tony Conigliaro – he was hit in the eye by a pitch – could not stop the Red Sox as they rallied around their fallen teammate in an epic final month of the year that saw four teams gunning for the American League title, with Carl Yastrzemski leading the charge for Boston. Yaz won the Triple Crown and AL MVP that year.

One game behind the Minnesota Twins with a two-game series against them remaining, the Red Sox swept the set and won the pennant, with Yastrzemski going 7 for 8 with 6 RBIs in the series. The Cardinals had a much easier path to the NL pennant, winning 101 games and finishing 10.5 games over the second place San Francisco Giants.

In the World Series, Bob Gibson and the Cardinals won Game 1 in Boston 2-1, but the Sox came back to tie the series with a 5-0 win in Game 2. The Cardinals took Games 3 and 4 when the series went to St. Louis to take a commanding 3-1 lead, but the Red Sox would not go down quietly. The Sox won Game 5, then broke a 4-4 tie in the seventh inning of Game 6 to win and force a Game 7.

But the “Impossible Dream” would fall just short, as the Cardinals went on to win Game 7 by a score of 7-2. Bob Gibson, who won three complete games and allowed just three runs, was named World Series MVP.
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Davis, Jim Globe Staff

Super Bowl XXXVI: Patriots vs. Rams

When quarterback Drew Bledsoe suffered a severe injury in the second game of the 2001 season, the Patriots looked to be doomed because they were forced to play an unproven sophomore who was not even a full time starter in college: Tom Brady. At 1-3 after Week 4, the season still looked bleak for the Patriots, but Brady and the team rolled out 10 wins in their final 12 games, winning the AFC East and heading to the playoffs.

The Patriots defeated the Oakland Raiders in the now-famous (or infamous to Raiders fans) “Tuck Rule Game,” before Drew Bledsoe came back to lead the Patriots to an AFC Championship win on the road in Pittsburgh.

The St. Louis Rams had a similar season just two years before, when newly-signed franchise quarterback Trent Green suffered a torn ACL in the preseason, leaving the team in the hands of former grocery store employee, Kurt Warner. Warner went on to lead the Rams as they became the “Greatest Show on Turf,” winning the NFL MVP and Super Bowl XXXIV over the Titans.

Rams running back Marshall Faulk won the MVP the next season, with Warner winning again in 2001 for rare back-to-back-to-back MVPs by one team. The Rams rolled through Green Bay and won by five points over Philadelphia in the NFC playoffs in 2001, and headed into the Super Bowl as heavy favorites to beat the Patriots.

The Rams took a 3-0 lead after the first quarter of the game, but a 45-yard interception return for a touchdown by Ty Law gave the Patriots a 7-3 lead. Brady threw a touchdown pass to David Patten to give New England a 14-3 lead heading into halftime. The Patriots extended their lead to 17-3 entering the fourth quarter, but Warner led a strong fourth-quarter comeback, running in a touchdown and later throwing one to Ricky Proehl with 1:30 left to tie the game at 17.

With the ball deep in their own territory and a little over a minute to play, Brady led an incredible 53-yard drive to get the Patriots in field goal range with seven seconds to play. Having already tied and won the Oakland game in the snow with two field goals, Adam Vinatieri had no problem knocking home a 48-yard field goal to give the Patriots their first Super Bowl victory.

Brady was named Super Bowl MVP, and the Patriots would go on to win two more Super Bowls over the next three seasons.
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Grossfeld, Stan Globe Staff

2004 World Series: Red Sox vs. Cardinals

After becoming the first team in MLB history to come back from being down 3-0 in a seven game series in the ALCS against the Yankees, the Red Sox squared off against the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series. St. Louis had beaten the LA Dodgers and the Houston Astros en route to its first NL pennant since 1985, while the Red Sox won their first pennant since 1986.

In Game 1 at Fenway park, the Red Sox took a 4-0 lead in the first inning, later expanding it to a 7-2 lead after three innings. The Cardinals stormed back though, scoring three runs in the fourth and two in the sixth to tie the game at 7. The Sox took the lead back with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but the Cardinals answered with two of their own in the top of the eighth. Mark Bellhorn became an unlikely Red Sox hero in the bottom of the inning, hitting a two-run home run off Pesky’s Pole to give the Sox a 11-9 lead. Keith Foulke would go on to shut the Cardinals down in the ninth to win Game 1.

In Game 2, the Sox took another early lead, but held on this time to win 6-2 thanks to a stong performance by Curt Schilling, who was essentially pitching on one leg after severely injuring his ankle in the ALCS.

The series moved to St. Louis for Game 3, and the Sox built a four-run lead by the fifth inning, eventually winning 4-1 to move one game away from winning the World Series. In Game 4, the Sox took a 3-0 lead after three innings and never looked back, with Derek Lowe, Bronson Arroyo, Alan Embree, and Keith Foulke shutting down the Cardinals to give the Red Sox their first World Series title in 86 years, ending the “Curse of the Bambino.”

With his .412 batting average, one home run, and four RBIs in the series, Manny Ramirez became the first Red Sox player to be named World Series MVP.
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Globe Staff Photo Frank O'Brien

St. Louis Patriots?

James Orthwein, a St. Louis native, owned the Patriots for two years in the early 1990s but wanted to move the team to St. Louis. But Robert Kraft outbid other suitors when Ortwein decided to sell, and he kept the Patriots in New England.

Orthwein later assisted in bringing an NFL team back to St. Louis, helping to lure the Rams from Los Angeles in 1995.
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